THE Royal Navy today revealed that the British sailors and Marines seized by Iran were actually 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters at the time.

Vice Admiral Charles Style told a briefing at the Ministry of Defence that the British personnel were “ambushed” at gunpoint after searching a suspicious vessel.

He added that their continued detention by Iran was “unjustified and wrong.”

The MoD said it "unambiguously contested" claims from Tehran that the UK vessel had strayed into Iranian waters. It was, in fact, 1.7 nautical miles inside the Iraqi part of the Shatt al Arab waterway, which forms the border between the two countries.

Admiral Style said the Iranians gave two different positions for the Royal Navy boarding party - the first inside Iraqi territorial waters.

"We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts," said Admiral Style. "After we did this they then provided a second set of co-ordinates that places the incident in Iranian waters, over two nautical miles from the position given by HMS Cornwall and confirmed by the merchant vessel.

"It is is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of co-ordinates.”

Admiral Style said GPS reasdouts on the position of the British vessel confirmed it had been in Iraqi waters.

The sailors and marines seized last Friday include married mother-of-one Faye Turney and 21-year-old Paul Barton.